The Calligrapher — Liǔ Gōngquán 柳公权

Tang regular-script master famed for 'bones' of strength; rival to Yan Zhenqing.

Tang calligrapher (778–865), master of regular script — Tang master of bone-strength regular script, paired forever with Yan Zhenqing as 'Yan sinew, Liu bone'. Tang dynasty

Cultural Story

夷 meant the eastern barbarians and, by extension, to level flat. The 诗经 speaks of 夷 (peaceful) and open hearts in a good reign; 夷平 (raze) flattened rebel strongholds to the ground. The 彝族 (Yi people) take the character in their own name today; 化险为夷 (turn danger to safety) closes a tale of escape. The word holds both the stranger and the flat ground.

Common words & phrases

• 彝族 Yi ethnic group
• 夷平 level · raze · flatten
• 鄙夷 despise · disdain · look down on
• 化险为夷 turn danger into safety · avert disaster
• 夷族 exterminate a clan · ancient punishment

Read the story behind the character

The 彝族 (Yi) New Year fills Yunnan feeds with torchlit dances; 夷平 (level) describes a demolition crew clearing an old block. 鄙夷 (despise) ends a gossip clip about a rival; 化险为夷 (avert disaster) captions a cliffside rescue. The character keeps its old double — the outsider people and the act of flattening trouble into calm.

Why this character belongs on skin

The ancients used it for the peoples beyond their eastern borders — the outsider, the other, the one who does not speak the language. But the same character means to level a mountain, to raze a wall, to flatten what stood in the way. And it means peace: to bring the high low, the rough even, the peril past. There is a phrase — turn danger into safety — and 夷 is the safety on the other side. To wear it is to claim the outsider in yourself, the part no border contains, and the calm that comes after the storm has done its worst. Not tame. Leveled, like a field after fire, ready to be sown. The mark of one who has been foreign everywhere and at home nowhere, until now.